Fun, Fun, FUNSPOT!

[Flack]

Saturday I finished off my Boston trip by joining Jason Scott (http://ascii.textfiles.com) on a trip to Funspot (http://www.funspotnh.com) in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. Weirs Beach is a cute little lakeside community with lots of cottages, restaurants, and attractions to see ... during the summer. In the winter, most of those things are boarded up or chained closed. Fortunately for Jason and I Funspot is open year-round, which made for a much more interesting visit.

Funspot claims to be "The Largest Arcade in the World." I don't know what specific metric they're using -- square footage or number of machines -- but both were pretty impressive. Funspot actually consists of three levels, although the stuff I went for (the Classic Games) were all located on level three. Level one contained dozens of redemption (ticket) games, air hockey tables, racing games and a snack bar. Level two contained a full-size bowling alley, lots of kiddie rides, a tavern, and some pinball games. One end of level three contained a golf center complete with a driving range and a mini-golf course, but it was the other half of that level that we were most interested in.

http://www.robohara.com/pix/blog/funspot1.jpg

I was told that the cutoff date for the classic room was 1988, and that seemed about right. (Games that I'd consider to be "newer" classics such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989), The Simpsons (1990) and Mortal Kombat (1992) were located on the second floor.) Using some rough calculations I estimated Funspot has over 200 classic machines, the vast majority of which were restored to look and play like new. It's hard to think many genuine classics that they didn't have. They had everything from the well-known classics (Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Space Invaders and so on) to lots of more obscure gems (Lode Runner, Crazy Climber, Venture). Many of the games were grouped by manufacturer; there was an Atari section, a Sega section, a Taito section, and so on. Dragon's Lair sat next to Space Ace, Cheyenne stood next to Crossbow, Zaxxon sat next to Super Zaxxon, and so on.

http://www.robohara.com/pix/blog/funspot2.jpg

I had an awesome time playing (or in some cases, just seeing) some of the games I grew up playing. The only disappointment of the day was the fact that Donkey Kong was broken. For those who don't know, the classic Donkey Kong showdown from The King of Kong (http://www.billyvssteve.com/) took place at this very arcade. The fact that Donkey Kong was broken was ironic, but not particularly upsetting as there were so many games there that I enjoyed playing and seeing again.

More photos from my visit are located HERE (http://www.robohara.com/albums/funspot).

[DJ Daishi]

wow, another place to go before I die!

I don't know, someone once told me that NeoGeo Land was the largest arcade in the world. dunno if it's still open though.

[DJ Daishi]

lol, I think this guy has you beat...

http://bbcicecream.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dsc01716.jpg

[jcalder8]

What was the cost like?

[Flack]

Free to get in and substantial discounts on tokens. Like, $1 = 4 tokens but I noticed $20 = 125 tokens.

[XYXZYZ]

Awesome. I like how all the games are grouped by company/cabinet type, and they all appear dedicated! I don't see any shameful conversion jobs in those photos. Were there any?

[Greg2600]

Incredible! A reason to go to New Hampshire? Why not, just only in the summer, which up there I think is just the month of July.

[Flack]

Awesome. I like how all the games are grouped by company/cabinet type, and they all appear dedicated! I don't see any shameful conversion jobs in those photos. Were there any?

Not that I saw. Every game I can remember seeing was original and, for the most part, restored.

[Nikademus1969]

http://www.robohara.com/pix/blog/funspot2.jpg



What game was that? I've never seen a cabnet like that before.

[InsaneDavid]

What game was that? I've never seen a cabnet like that before.

Nintendo Vs. System cocktail (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=N&game_id=8895).

I still miss the big Tilt that was upstairs at the Vallco Fashion Park mall in Cupertino. Granted it was 1990's era arcade at its peak but had an amazing selection of games from all eras. Was also the first place I played some of my favorite modern classics like Virtua Racing and Time Traveler - when they were brand new off the assembly line. Also had a full size carousel, bumper cars, and a pneumatic shooting gallery. And of course I think all of us in Silicon Valley miss Bullwinkle's in Santa Clara.

[Moon Jump]

Good, this is on the first page, so I don't have to make a new thread about it.

I first heard about FunSpot in Retro Gamer Magazine. Since their from England I thought that the place had to be in Europe, but when I read it and found out that it was in NEW England (Well, New Hampshire, but you get my point).. I had to go.

My friends and I went up our first time in January. I'll tell you something. No amounts of videos or pictures of FunSpot do it justice. You have to go and see it for yourself. The place is amazing.

The prices are awesome. If you go around to any of the businesses in the area be on the look out for their coupons. The BBQ place across from them have them and I heard a couple of gas stations and fast food places too. If you go to the bowling ally with the coupon you get 25 dollars worth of tokens (4 for a buck) for 20 bucks! Every time I go I stock up on coupons.

I know the owner Gary on a first name basis, he's a really friendly guy..when you get to talk to him. He's ALWAYS busy. From what he told me, SOME of the games are conversions. He said back in the 80's they didn't even think that the games would become classics. If they stopped making money, you'd buy an upgrade kit and get another game to make more money.

Their 10th Annual Tournament is May 29th-June 1st. I'll be competing in it again, I know I won't do well but it's fun to see how I stack up with the rest of them.

Click the banner in my sig and check out my site. I've got links to the pictures and videos I took of FunSpot on my trips. I'm also going back there in two weeks. So if their's anything you want me to get a video or picture of, let me know.

[Radiac]

I'm also going back there in two weeks. So if their's anything you want me to get a video or picture of, let me know.


I'd like to see pics of their racing games and any of Sega's larger sim type machines if it's not too much trouble.

[Moon Jump]

You got it. One of the number one videos on YouTube was the video of me playing Space Harrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg80OLBoC4U

Now it's hard to play the game with just a controller. It's so much fun when the whole machine is moving.

It's great to have all of Sega's full motion machines all in one place. I wish they had the money for Afterburner Climax though.

[Nikademus1969]

Nintendo Vs. System cocktail (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=N&game_id=8895).

I still miss the big Tilt that was upstairs at the Vallco Fashion Park mall in Cupertino. Granted it was 1990's era arcade at its peak but had an amazing selection of games from all eras. Was also the first place I played some of my favorite modern classics like Virtua Racing and Time Traveler - when they were brand new off the assembly line. Also had a full size carousel, bumper cars, and a pneumatic shooting gallery. And of course I think all of us in Silicon Valley miss Bullwinkle's in Santa Clara.

Ahhh..thank you :) In all the years I've surfed the KLOV, I have never looked at that page apparently :oops:

I remember the old Tilt arcade in the Westgate Mall in Madison..they used to have a rather eclectic selection of classic machines (it was the only place I have ever seen a Thayer's Quest machine, for example) and every year around x-mas time they would have price tags on all the machines on the off-chance someone wanted to buy one.

[Flack]

Wow, that's weird. We had a Tilt arcade as well, and not only do I remember the price tags around Christmas time, but I remember their Thayer's Quest machine as well. :) If I remember right, the price tags were about 3x the going rate.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Fun fact: I once watched a Nintendo Vs. cocktail hit Flack and icbrkr on the head. Man, I laughed. And took pictures. :p

[Greg2600]

Those videos are great, I haven't seen a moving Sega game of that vintage (in person) in 20 years.

[Moon Jump]

Hate to bump this, but I just wanted to let everybody know we're leaving tomorrow to go up to FunSpot. I'll be taking videos of the full sized Sega games and some of their racers, but if there's anything else you'd like me to get footage of, please let me know.

I might not have access to the internet, I'm staying at a cheep motel that doesn't have an office so I won't be able to respond to emails.

[Flack]

If you get a chance, a friend of mine would love some pics/footage of the Burgertime cabinet there.

[Moon Jump]

You got it, Burgertime is one of my favorites. Hopefully they still have it on the end so I can get a shot of the cab.

[Nistle]

man i love burgertime too. I hope to own that arcade one day.

[punkoffgirl]

Hate to bump this, but I just wanted to let everybody know we're leaving tomorrow to go up to FunSpot. I'll be taking videos of the full sized Sega games and some of their racers, but if there's anything else you'd like me to get footage of, please let me know.

I might not have access to the internet, I'm staying at a cheep motel that doesn't have an office so I won't be able to respond to emails.

Good luck! How far were you traveling? I hope they didn't get hit with the snowstorm that we got.

[Cryomancer]

Is Tilt still around? that place was freakin awesome. I see a website of a chain arcade called tilt with several locations still listed, hmm...

[InsaneDavid]

Is Tilt still around? that place was freakin awesome. I see a website of a chain arcade called tilt with several locations still listed, hmm...

The last one I frequented closed last year so yeah, I'd guess that they're still in business. The token machines at the San Jose Golfland have been spitting out TILT tokens every now and then for awhile. LOL Always makes me miss that one in Cupertino.


Wow, that's weird. We had a Tilt arcade as well, and not only do I remember the price tags around Christmas time, but I remember their Thayer's Quest machine as well. :) If I remember right, the price tags were about 3x the going rate.

You wanna know how to tell when one is getting ready to close? The prices on all machines (even stuff like Sega Super GT) drop through the floor. I still kick myself for not picking up a couple bargains from one TILT back when it was healthy. Virtua Racing twin sitdown - $300 in perfect shape - I let it pass but had it on my mind for years. VirtualOn - $650 in amazing shape with newly installed sticks - and that one was there for months at that price, I almost bought it and by the time I made up my mind to it was gone.

[Radiac]

We've got a Tilt here in Springfield. They always have the rediculous prices on their games during the holidays. They don't price the newest games or any of the SEGA racing games though.

The bad thing about the one here is they don't maintain the games for shit. I went about a month ago, and every game I tried to play had f'ed up controls. There were many games that weren't working at all as well. Lame.

Moon Jump: I hope you had a good time at Fun Spot. I'm looking forward to the vids. :)

[InsaneDavid]

The bad thing about the one here is they don't maintain the games for shit. I went about a month ago, and every game I tried to play had f'ed up controls. There were many games that weren't working at all as well. Lame.

Good part of that has to do with the local and regional managers. At a few of the local ones (and that lovely one I keep bringing up that was in Cuperino) everything was well maintained. There was one that had all the machines fully shopped and brought up to 100% just before Christmas each year for their public sale. I almost picked up a $275 Bionic Commando simply because it was TOTALLY restored with NOS parts - don't ask me why so much care was given to a game that when I would drop a token inside I could hear it hit the bottom of the coinbox. LOL Someone bought it within two weeks.

[Moon Jump]

The reason why the machines are like that is because there's only TWO people that fix them. Bob the main owner and Gary, the guy that runs the museum.

When I spoke to him yesterday he apologized about the games. He said they were getting HAMMERED with kids being off on mid winter recess. The problem is when you go upstairs, NOBODY IS UP THERE. All the action takes place on the lower levels with the redemption. I was there by myself for about an hour and a half on Monday.

He said it the best, "Would you spend the time to fix a game that only pulls in five tokens a day? Or the machine that takes five tokens a minute?" They have a Pink Panther redemption machine that RAKES in the coins downstairs.

It's the problem with ALL arcades, their 85% redemption. So they have to fix and maintain the big money makers. It's not that he's lazy or they don't care, it's they don't have the manpower to do it. On the weekends you'll see a teenager attendant walking around, but they don't know shit about the games. Hell, most of the games are older then the kids that work there!

My friend and I spoke to Gary for about an hour and a half. He told us the tournament is going to be "INSANE". Guinness and Twin Galaxies asked for tables to host Star Gate and Defender tournaments and since King of Kong came out, people are going to come out of the woodwork to try to break the world records in front of them.

He also showed us behind the scenes in his workshop where he fixes the games as well as his other plans that he has. He just has a lot on his plate with everything going on, so hopefully he'll get through it all.

My friend and I got videos of all the games you asked for, we did a tour of each floor's games, the Sega Racers, Burgertime and a couple of our other favorite games they have up there.

I should have the pictures up by tomorrow and since my friend Gerard got a new Mini-DV Camera it's going to take some time for him to get used to it so he can edit all of the videos, but we should have them up in a few weeks.

Also, I wanted to ask Gary about renting out the place. FunSpot does a lot of corporate functions where you can rent the place out for a couple of hours after closing. I wanted to see how many people would be interested in an end of summer "Midnight Madness" event at FunSpot and try to help raise money for the Museum.

Let me know what you guys think about this, I'd like to mention it to a couple of other sites to get the word out about this. Because as I said it's only TWO people that run the whole place so they can use the help.

[Overbite]

I was up there earlier today (I live right by it) and although I've been going to Funspot regularly since i was a wee lad it's still a pretty cool place. They got a Smash TV cab in a little while ago and it rocks, I spent like 3 bucks on it.

If I saw this thread before today i would have went up there when you guys were there and said hello and also beat you at one of their trivia games.

[Radiac]

Moon Jump, that sounds like a really cool idea. I would definitely be down if I weren't soooo far away. If you are looking for other sites to "advertise" such an outing, the KLOV message board would be a great place to start. Obviously, the board is loaded with arcade enthusiasts, and there quite a few members that would be close enough to make such an event.

Anyway, thanks for making vids of your trip. I'm definitely looking forward to the floor by floor tour.

[Moon Jump]

Gary told me he had a Smash TV, I told him, even though it was from the 90's they should have it because it's the unofficial sequel to Robotron.

While it doesn't have the real layout with the ball style sticks, I'll say the sticks he has on the machine are awesome and it controls like a dream.

Only problem is. My friend and I got into the middle of the third round and the machine glitched and reset. I watched it boot up and it said "BAD ROM ERROR" hopefully he can fix that.

With the whole get together, it's all an idea. FunSpot does two events a year, one in the Spring, the other in the Winter. I looked on their list of events and saw they didn't have ANYTHING in August.

They have package deals for FunSpot "After Hours" but the prices range between, $1,200 for three hours up to $5,200 for four hours. The price includes free bowling, extra tokens and food. But since my friend and I aren't Penny-Arcade I doubt we could command that type of response, even at the lowest cost.

We were thinking of just picking a weekend and telling people to go that weekend. I also wanted to see about asking a couple of judges from Twin Galaxies about coming to judge some world records.

I'm going to try to throw this idea around to some other sites, I know Gary told me about KLOV and how he goes on there to see all the games they sold off. So I'll see if I can drum up some excitement and see if we can make something happen.

[2600]

Hey, just wanted to say that the sega racers video, the burgertime video, and a 3 floor walkthrough of funspot as well as a video of the nintendo vs. tennis cabinet (the weird red cabinet in the one photo posted), will be hopefully be uploaded by this weekend. I am cutting and editing them now and will be sending them to revver for approval and to be uploaded on Friday. I will post links when they are done.

[Overbite]

we could all get together at the funspot tournament and multitask!

[Moon Jump]

Videos are up!

Sega Racers for Radiac (http://revver.com/video/746399/affiliate/167679/press-start-vdeo-request-sega-racers-of-funspot/)
How rare really is Daytona 2 Power Edition Radiac? You'll see what 2600 put on the video, I've seen more D2's then I've seen of Indy 500.

BurgerTime for Flack (http://revver.com/video/746403/press-start-video-request-burgertime/)
Here ya go Flack, the world record setting, BurgerTime. Surprised I made it to the third stage in one life!

2600 is working on the rest of the videos including, Popeye, Donkey Kong, the Nintendo Vs. Tennis Machine, Vs. Duck Hunt, Chiller and of course the full tour of all three floors of the arcade.

[2600]

As far as Funspot goes in Summer, I am down with seeing who can go and when and just do a casual weekend hang out. A solid weekend of classic games would be great, plus the drive in theater and JT's BBQ place are awesome and right nearby (Drive in is down the street, JT's is across the street from Funspot).

I also uploaded the video of the SEGA racers and the video for BurgerTime. The Vs. Tennis cabinet video is in the process of beeing approved and should be up by tomorrow.

SEGA Racers at Funspot (http://www.revver.com/video/746399/press-start-vdeo-request-sega-racers-of-funspot/)

BurgerTime Video (http://www.revver.com/video/746403/press-start-video-request-burgertime/)

Press Start Video Page (http://www.revver.com/u/PressStart/)

[Radiac]

Wow! Thanks guys. Very cool video. I really appreciate what you did there.

As far as Daytona 2, it's not too uncommon, but it is still overshadowed by the original title. Daytona 2 is considered by most to be the superior game, but the general public never embraced it like they did Daytona. One of the reasons that it shows up as being so rare on KLOV is because it's still pretty expensive. As it gets older, more collectors will add it to their collections.

You mentioned Indy 500. I think you are correct that it is far more rare than D2. The game never really performed that well in spite of it's quality. Of the Model 2 racers, Indy has the greatest sensation of speed. The developers did a really cool thing with the camera by zooming in when decelerating and pulling out when accelerating. It's really immersive and should be experienced as I'm not describing it too well. It's also got a rip-off of one of the greatest tracks around. Highland Raceway closely resembles Laguna Seca, and it makes the game worth playing by itself.

It looks like Funspot has a great selection of racers. It's really great to see Virtua Racing still on location and earning money. That was truly a groundbreaking game and worthy of a spot in any arcade. The sit-down Outrun is sweet as well. It looks like it's in great condition. They do need to put an original steering wheel on it though...

I really like that they have sit down versions of Hang-On and Super Hang-On. Very cool and the Hang-On cab is pretty rare in the US. The older cabs are cool as well. I've wanted a Monaco GP cockpit for some time now, and theirs looks to be in top condition.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Thanks again guys!

[Moon Jump]

Not a problem. Since your in the know about the Sega Racers, what's the deal with the Daytona 2007 edition? I saw it at a few arcades, it just looks like a ROM hack with a different title screen. I played the game and it's the same, nothing really felt different.

Also, the video for the Nintendo Vs. Tennis is up and I put in a ton of our older videos off of our YouTube site.

http://revver.com/video/746596/affiliate/167679/nintendo-vs-tennis-cabinet/

With the August FunSpot trip, I was thinking the second to last weekend of August, that way it won't cut into the NAVA meeting that's almost always held on the last Saturday of the month.

[Radiac]

Daytona 2007? I've never heard of that one. There are several ROM hack versions out there, most notable being the GTX version. The problem with these updates is that most involve using the start button for turbo boosts. While it is a novel addition at first, the speed boosts really ruin the balance of the game. It becomes more about using the turbo in the right spots and less about driving abilities.

Anyway, if you ever find out any more info on the 2007 version you played, be sure to let us know.

[Moon Jump]

Then it must have been GTX because it said "TURBO FEATURE" but the banner looked like it was printed on a crappy ink jet printer and it just said 2007 Edition ALL NEW!! Yet it was the same game.

[Radiac]

Yeah, I'll bet it was GTX. The cheezy ink jet marquee on those is pretty hideous.

http://i23.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/d9/3f/48b8_12.JPG

[Moon Jump]

Yup! That's the one. It just looks like a cheap "upgrade" to get a couple of bucks out of it and stupid people think..oh! It's NEW!!

Does the game really need it? Almost every arcade I go to has some form of Daytona 1 and it's always got asses in the seats. Even though the game's almost 20 years old now it keeps making money.

Sega should just re-issue the game rather then making new stuff. I hear RaceTV is doing horrible.

[Radiac]

I hadn't heard about Race TV bombing, but I did hear that Initial D 4 is doing very poorly.

Yeah, Daytona is still the earnings king and probably won't be knocked off anytime soon. I guess it's not too hard to see why operators would want to buy upgrades for the cab regardless of their quality. Daytona is probably more profitable than most of their other games combined.

Hell, according to the coin counters on my machine, it pulled in just over $135,000 during it's life on route. That's a serious return on investment. I can definitely see ops salivating when some salesman offers them a ROM upgrade that promises to extend the life of a machine that's brought in that much dough.

[Moon Jump]

http://arcadeheroes.com/

One of my favorite blogs, they post a lot of our videos. From what they have been saying RaceTV isn't preforming well and their working on an update for it.

(Hate turning this into another thread inside of a thread)

[Radiac]

Cool blog. Bookmarked.

Yeah, I guess I kinda highjacked the Funspot thread. lol

sorry all...